eighte

Middle English

**Middle English numbers ^(edit)**
← 7	8	9 →
Cardinal: eighte Ordinal: eiȝtthe

Alternative forms

eight, eiȝt, eiȝte, eyȝt
ahte, eahte, ehhte, ehte (early)
aghte, aucht, aughte (Northern)

Etymology

From Old English eahta, from Proto-West Germanic *ahtō, from Proto-Germanic *ahtōu, from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw.

The form /ˈɛi̯xt(ə)/, showing the West Midland and Kentish dialectal development of OE /æ/ (< /æ͜ɑ/) to /ɛ/ (instead of usual /a/)[1], unexpectedly predominates in Middle English.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɛi̯xt(ə)/, (generally Northern) /ˈau̯xt(ə)/

Numeral

eighte

eight[2]

Related terms

eiȝtthe, eyghte
eiȝtetene

Descendants

English: eight
- Sranan Tongo: aiti
Scots: aucht, aicht
Yola: ayght, aught

References

Jordan, Richard (1974), Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum; 214)‎, The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., DOI:10.1515/9783110879414, § 32, page 54.
“eighte, card. num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

[1] Jordan, Richard (1974), Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum; 214)‎, The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., DOI:10.1515/9783110879414, § 32, page 54.

[2] “eighte, card. num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.